


77. Lessons in love

by tveckling



Series: Dare to Write challenge [62]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Post-Resident Evil: Vendetta, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 03:32:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19309756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tveckling/pseuds/tveckling
Summary: He can barely keep his eyes open, everything’s distorted and unclear, but Leon can still hear all too clearly—the screeching of the B.O.W., the incessant gunfire, Chris’ grunts and curses and choked down yells of pain as he’s not quite fast enough to avoid the too sharp claws. The same claws that got to Leon.





	77. Lessons in love

He can barely keep his eyes open, everything’s distorted and unclear, but Leon can still hear all too clearly—the screeching of the B.O.W., the incessant gunfire, Chris’ grunts and curses and choked down yells of pain as he’s not quite fast enough to avoid the too sharp claws. The same claws that got to Leon. And damn him, damn Redfield, he should have just turned and run when Leon told him to, they still need to destroy the core of this damn place, bring it all down. Why the hell did he jump back into the fight?

Another sharp, pained sound makes Leon grit his teeth, makes him scream at himself, makes him force his body to _move_ , goddamnit. Ignoring the weakness in his hands he pushes against the ground, forcing himself to _push through it_ when a burst of pain makes his grip threaten to give out. The simple act of keeping himself in a sitting position makes sweat break out on his face, and he can feel his hand shake by the effort. He ignores it, ignores all of it, and focuses on pushing past the dizziness as he opens his eyes, focuses on making the figures moving about stop being so fuzzy.

Chris is fighting, bleeding from multiple gashes—thankfully none of them look too deep, and Leon feels the tightness in his chest ease just a little—but he doesn’t let it hinder him as he attacks the monster with ferocity that actually takes Leon aback. He’s never seen Chris like this, only seen the pure hatred in his eyes at a couple very memorable occasions. It makes no sense for him to turn that expression on a simple mindless beast.

But at least that anger is useful. The beast isn’t moving nearly as fast as when Leon fought it, and he’s pretty sure he can see blood splattering to the ground as it runs around. Chris has done a number on it, that’s for sure.

If only that was enough. Leon feels that earlier tightness creep back when the monster attacks Chris, over and over, fast swipes that tear into soft human skin since Chris _can’t dodge_ , isn’t fast enough, is getting too tired to keep up. _He needs help_.

And Leon wants to scream in frustration when he tries to get to his feet, only for his vision to swim as he falls back down. It doesn’t matter that he can feel blood seep through his clothes, doesn’t matter that he can feel it run down his face, he needs to get up, he _has_ to help.

He still has a gun, and he knows Chris has at least one incendiary grenade left. This monster is weak to fire, so if they can just get it to stop moving for one second it’ll be toast. He just needs to distract the beast, give Chris some time.

It takes too much energy to hold himself up, so he lets himself fall fully back down on the ground, and takes out his gun. Forces his eyes to remain open, his vision to remain clear, his hands to stay _steady, damnit_. Watches the beast, follows its movements, makes himself get used to its speed and calculate its patterns. Waits.

_Shoots._

“It’s weakness is fire!” he shouts as the monster trips with a ear-bleeding screech, collapsing on the ground. It’ll only last for a few seconds at most, but it should be enough time for Chris to set it on fire.

And Chris understands, immediately pulling out the grenade and throwing it at the beast. Leon scrunches his eyes shut with a hiss as the flames leaps up from the container, swallowing the monster as it screeches.

It doesn’t last for long; Leon lets go of his gun and focuses on simply breathing as he hears the dying noises end. Tries not to be swallowed himself, by the pain that’s infecting every part of his body, making him feel like he’s being torn apart. His breath comes in hard gasps, and no matter how hard he tries to calm it down it has no effect. It would be a good opportunity to look over his wounds—if only he could _move_ , if only his hands weren’t lying useless next to him.

“Leon!”

He tries to open his eyes again, but he only manages to get them halfways before they fall shut again. Chris’ boots are still loud, letting Leon know exactly where he is, exactly when he kneels next to him. A hand touches his face, wiping away what Leon assumes is blood. He wishes he could open his eyes, look up, see what expression Chris is wearing now. Only then can he knows what to say to reassure him.

But he tries anyway, despite not knowing what he needs to say to soothe the worry so clear in Chris’ voice, decides to open his mouth and worry about having the correct words later. Only, the moment he tries to actually say anything the words get stuck in his chest, tangled up with something that instead brings up a cough, wrecking his body and making his head swim as he tries to get it under control. Of course that only makes the coughing worse, and for a few seconds he wonders if this will actually kill him.

He doesn’t notice the hands grabbing him, cradling him, doesn’t notice the frantic words until whatever took control of his body leaves, letting him fall limply into the arms holding him. This time he manages to open his eyes into springs, just barely makes out a fuzzy figure he guesses is Chris. It must be Chris, who else would be there?

“Leon, can you hear me? Don’t try to talk, just nod if you can, it’s oka- oh, okay. Okay, that’s good. I need you to stay with me, here. Don’t try to talk, don’t try to move, just focus on staying awake. I’m going to remove your jacket, okay? I need to get a better look at where that thing got you.”

If he could Leon would snort, because his jacket’s already way past repairing; why would Chris bother to get his permission to remove it? He doesn’t care about it, it’s just clothes. He manages to make another tiny nod, then closes his eyes to focus on not jerking in pain every time his body’s jolted as Chris carefully—but not carefully enough, no one could be careful enough—removes the garment. When he’s done Leon couldn’t possibly tell whether it’s blood or sweat he’s covered in.

Apparently Chris is of the same opinion, judging by the noise he lets slip. Slowly Leon opens his eyes again, and sees Chris’ hands hovering in the air above his body. It takes a while longer, but finally he manages to focus on Chris’ face—and he doesn’t know what to do with the sheer panic he finds.

“I’m- this is-”

Too much. Enough. Won’t be helped by whatever first aid items Chris has.

Leon closes his eyes, falls back into the darkness. It’s easier, rather than seeing his own death in Chris’ face. He breathes, just _breathes_ for one long moment. Well, if he’s going to die, might as well try to get an answer to the question he’s burning with.

“Why… did you… come back?”

“What- are you- are you _kidding me_?”

“I _told_ you… to _run_.”

“And let you die? Are you _fucking serious_? How could you even think, for one moment that I’d- no. Fuck that. I’m getting you out of here, and I’m going to get your wounds fixed.”

Feeling hands slip under his body Leon reaches out with a burst of strength and speed he didn’t know he still possessed. “ _The core_ ,” he hisses, feeling the words get pulled out of him like razorblades cutting him open.

“We’ll deal with that later!”

“Wha-”

But Chris doesn’t let him protest once more, and whatever strength Leon had is gone. He can’t do anything but try to swallow his whimper as Chris lifts him up, holding him pressed close to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Leon hears Chris say, though it’s almost drowned out by the ringing in his ears, the drumming in his head, the pain tearing him apart. “Hang on, I’ll get you out of here, you’ll see. Just hang on.”

“ _Why_?” He has to know. He doesn’t understand, it makes no sense. _Why_ is Chris doing this, for _him_? He’s expendable, just like everyone else. They have all had to sacrifice people, so why isn’t Chris leaving him behind to push through and complete their mission?

Chris begins moving, instead of answering, holding Leon close as though he was trying to meld them together. It seems like he’s not going to answer, and the constant moving makes Leon soon lose focus, forget he even asked. All he can think of is the pain flaring up and threatening to devour him. That’s why he almost misses the soft words.

“When we’re out of this, when you’re healed up… then I’ll tell you. So you have to survive this.”

Even if he were able to, Leon doesn’t know what he should answer. So he stays quiet, focuses on breathing and holding onto consciousness. He’ll survive, listen to whatever stupid reason Chris has so he can then chew him out for abandoning their mission.

Gritting his teeth he lets Chris hold him, pretending not to notice when Chris presses his body even closer.


End file.
